SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: MOSTLY WHITE

5/5/13 Mother loved white flowers---a look of peace and serenity to her. Her urns on the front steps had white geraniums and her viburnum down the side were filled with those large showy white snowballs from her mama's childhood home. Mother planted snowball bushes from "Mama" Davenport's original bushes for each of her three children. I have done the same for my three by simply burying a blooming snowball while still attached to the tree and allowing it to root. So...the heritage continues. Heirloom snowballs for inside and out.

Saturday Snippets.....

5/4/13..............posted on Sunday. I know. It goes against my somewhat compulsive nature to post "late" but the alliterative aspect of the title won out.

Simplistic snippets, those pieces of info, often just bits or scraps have been whirring in my head ever since I volunteered to create & teach a "Summer Refreshment" course at church.

simplici-TEA---a guided study to unjumble our lives and clear out our stuffed and cluttered minds, hearts, and souls....practical and spiritual approach to living out 2 Corinthians 11:3, with "the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." 

It will be similar to joining a friend for a "cuppa" as we take our "simplici-TEA together, one "sip" at a time.

Time has come to put said snippets in some kind of order---to turn scraps into morsels, worthy of sharing with others. A daunting task. But  God.....reminded me that this is to be His work. So....I'm back to the THOTS department of organization--Trusting Him On This Subject!

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave me strength, because he trusted me and gave me this work of serving him. (1 Timothy 1:12, NCV) 

CUL8TR

5/3/13 Not being a texter & only rarely an internet "chatterer," I thought the cul8ter acronym stood for "call you later"---BUT it means "see you later." So simple. Yet I missed it. I didn't read it as it was. I misread it.

As I'm preparing to teach on simplicity, the duplicity found in internet/text speak seems contrary to what I'm learning. In the beginning, "text-type talk" was used to "deceive" parents who might be looking over the kids shoulder as they "chatted" on-line with their friends. Now, the abbreviations are universally used to expedite the message----the shorter, the better. Making it simple. 

Yet, the relational part is omitted. So, as I prepare to teach, I want to remember that though I want to keep it "simple," I don't want to leave out the relationship part.

Simplicity, in the spiritual realm, goes hand in hand with developing a deeper life/walk with Him, the One who created us for relationships. Therefore shortcuts, no matter how simple, can not be used. Otherwise, the meaning might be "misread."

Simple Trust

5/1/13 Sometimes it just takes a "hand" to provide all the trust that is needed. As Lucy left church Sunday with Pop-Pop, I was reminded of the Psalm 37:24 verse....

When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. 

That truth is the basis for simple trust for all of us.

MEDITATION: A REMINDER TO BENEFIT AND BLESS OTHERS

4/29/13 Lots of food for thought from yesterday's sermon about my "vocation" in life, coupled with scripture, results in Monday Meditation. 

Vocation: I am called by God as His child, a wife, a mother and nowadays, a grandmother. Everything I do in life whether at work or play gives context to that purpose as I love God & love others.

Love God! Love others!

Truly loving God and loving others will result in both my work and play benefitting and blessing others.

BUT GOD....shows the flip side of that in the book of Ezekiel. A reminder that we can get off course, especially in times of prosperity and ease. (Conviction!!!! I'm all about ease.) Same convicting verse, or snippets thereof, in five different translations

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16: 49, NIV) 

....this... guilt....arrogance, abundant food and careless ease,... not help the poor and needy. (NASB) 

Behold, ....the iniquity, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness ...neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.(KJV) 

The sin...was this: She lived..... in the lap of luxury—proud, gluttonous, and lazy...... ignored the oppressed and the poor. They put on airs and lived obscene lives.  (The Message) 

Behold, this...guilt .... had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. (ESV)

Is this what happens when life gets too cushy (ie prosperous ease)----when there is more self-love than love of God? Does pride set in?

Does complacency begin to take "root" in our lives?

Does pleasure become our idol and our hands the personification of idleness? 

Do these traits benefit and bless others in any way? (Of course NOT!)

Simply put:

BENEFIT AND BLESS OTHERS AS YOU LOVE GOD & LOVE OTHERS!

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS 4/28...continued

4/28/13 ....because of an inability of this wannabe techie to import pix from a different account. Lucy (19 mos.) continued to "feed" a ball to neighbor's dog and then once again she fed herself----this time some watermelon.

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: APRIL 28

4/28/13 Birthday celebrations are always fun......especially when you can include family, whether in person or by phone. That's what hubby has done today. Plus Lucy came and Pop-Pop hadn't seen her "in person" since last July!

Preparing "Elmo" toast for breakfast.

Lucy feeding herself.......... 

.......and then feeding Elmo!

Pure Joy....

4/26/13....when the grandaughter you haven't seen in 9 months arrives!

First, Lucy & Shug have tea, naturally....

...followed by a snack.... 

......and washing up our tea set! 

After the rain a little red car ride..... 

....and swinging at Ava's and playing with the doggies. 

"Say Cheese," Elmo!

And there's even a "tub" Elmo at Shug & Pop-Pop's!

Shame on you, Victoria's Secret!

4/24/13 Today's mail held a CCV newsletter with an excerpt from Evan Dolive's blog.

Victoria's Secret is launching a new line of undies aimed at middle-schoolers. Their "Bright Young Things" line will feature "lace black cheeksters with the word "WILD" on them. There's even a lace thong with the words, "Call Me" on the front. As a dad of a 3 yr. old daughter, this made him sick.

It makes me sick as well. As 18 month old Lucy's Shug, I don't want her self-worth during her adolescent years "conforming to the world"(Romans 12:2) by focusing on words emblazoned on her under panties. 

Dolive (3/22/13 & 4/4/13) put it well listing the appropriate concerns he wanted in his daughter's mind at that age....

• Should I be a doctor or a lawyer? 

• Should I take calculus my junior year? Should I go to Texas A&M or U of Texas? 

• Should I raise awareness of slave trafficking or lack of water in developing nations? 

These are questions that he hoped she would be asking, NOT will a boy (or girl) like me if I wear a "call me" thong?

VS told ABC news and W'ton Post that the focus is for their  "pink" group not just tweens. When it's about money, do you believe them? I don't. I'm trying to find the petition that parents are signing to voice their  disgust. If I find it, I'll let you know. Til then, just know that VS greed and exploitation of young women makes me sick. Shame on Victoria's Secret!

I cannot do it.....

4/22/13.....that declaration is so relevant in many new ways and situations as I age. But God.......has been my strength or has provided the answer time after time. Thus that phrase, But God, as my blog readers know, is one I often hang my emotional hat on, especially when I need encouragement or the reminder of God's sovereignty. 

Imagine my excitement this week as I found both the sentence and the phrase in one verse. Joseph was speaking to Pharaoh in regards to a dream interpretation.

I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. (Genesis 41:16, NIV)

The underlines are mine because that's what I'm meditating on this week as I seek to tackle a new teaching assignment. I cannot do it, but God will----because He has called me to this task. Where God guides, he provides. That's what I'll be thinking on this week, how about you?